Feb 272012
“The Conversation”
{click image to view large}
Nikon D300; f8 @ 1/250 sec, ISO 200 (handheld);
105mm f/2.8 (157mm EFL); focus distance .89m
●●●
“Hanging Out Together”
{click image to view large}
Nikon D300; f9.5 @ 1/90 sec, ISO 3200 (handheld);
18.0-200.0 mm f/3.5-5.6 @ 150mm (225mm EFL); focus distance 1.33m
●●●
Something “pretty” for a change… 🙂
Chicago’s butterfly haven is a wonderful tonic for winter “blahs”—a greenhouse filled with light, flowers, water, butterflies and birds!
I made two visits recently: The first with Usha’s 105mm macro lens, which captured “The Conversation”. On the second, when “Hanging Out” was captured, I took my trusty all-purpose zoom and tucked a Canon 500D Close-up Lens into a cargo pocket.
Two things I (re-)learned:
- Do not go from cold into a hot (80F) and humid environment without a large plastic bag in which to place your equipment until it acclimates—which can take awhile. I’m pretty lucky I didn’t kill the electronics in my camera on that first visit.
- A day with light overcast is ideal in a greenhouse environment. My first visit was on a clear day, and the dynamic range was much wider than my camera could accommodate. Bracketing isn’t an option with these fast-moving subjects, so there’s a trade-off between loss of highlight/shadow detail on a high contrast day and higher ISO’s with more noise when it’s overcast.
April, both are beautiful images of beautiful subjects. At Callaway Gardens is a butterfly house, too, which you’ll enjoy visiting. So make sure you have a plastic bag large enough to hold you camera and whichever lens you want to use.
The humidity inside butterfly houses is always high, too, so I could stand to be inside only about an hour in most of those that I have visited. Trying to chase fast-moving insects in high heat/humidity is exhausting.
I’ve read about the Butterfly Center at Callaway, and hope we have a chance to visit during the workshop!